


School for the "Gifted"

by blacksaint666



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-19 14:59:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3614223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacksaint666/pseuds/blacksaint666
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>S.H.I.E.L.D has set up a school for "gifted" children and young adults. Follow five young "Heroes in Training" as they get use to their new lives.<br/>Will everything be peachy keen? Or will everything fall apart? And what secrets are the faculty hiding from the students?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

Michelle panted as she sat on the track surrounding the football field. Marching Band practice was only halfway over. The sun beat down on the field, making everything ten times worse. Michelle chugged water like she hadn't had any for days.

She laid back, placing her hand intentionally on a frayed wire that powered one of the pit's speakers. The electricity buzzed through her arm. She concentrated the buzz. Michelle began converting the electricity flowing into her body into something she could use herself. After a few moments she sat up , completely recharged. Just in time too.

The director blew his whistle and ordered everyone back on field for another run. Michelle rolled her eyes and stood to run to her spot.

Practice Ran well into the summer afternoon. The sun beat down on the band as the all trudged to the storage building. Michelle moaned and stared up at the slot she had been assigned for her clarinet. Of course she was assigned the slot a foot out of reach.

“Here let me help.” Someone said behind her. Michelle turned to face a man in a white button down, blue jeans, and a brown leather jacket, with a briefcase. He was tall, with light blond hair and blue eyes. He smiled at her.

 

Sarah sat in the large tree of her backyard. She Could hear her father and younger sister again fighting again. She sighed and did her best to tone it out. She stared up through the branches and leaves to the sky, daydreaming away.

Not long later she became a little peckish. She shifted around a bit to better reach the branch above her. Her finger lightly brushed the branch. A bud sprouted from the branch. The bud continue to grow and grow until a large, juicy apple hung from the branch. Sarah grabbed the apple and plucked it from the tree. Then she shifted around until she was comfortable to enjoy her snack.

“Could you teach me how to do that?” A gruff voice said from below Sarah’s perch.

Sarah gave a start and dropped the apple. There was a dull thunk followed by an “Ow!”. Sarah looked down from the tree. Standing below the branch was a tall man, with spiky brown hair and a goatee, in a casual suit. He was holding her apple in one hand and rubbing his head with the other.

Sara gaped as she looked at the man, recognizing him from all the magazine covers she had seen.

 

Noah walked into the laundry room as the machines buzzed and beeped loudly, signaling their cycles were completed. Noah yawned in boredom as he shut the door. he leaned on the door and concentrated.

The dryer door opened and the load of clothes floated out and onto the top of the machine. Next the washer opened and that load was floated into the dryer. A basket of whites was dumped into the washer once it was empty. Noah manually put detergent and bleach in the washer and the set both machines. He then looked at the laundry on top of the dryer. It folded neatly and moved into a waiting basket. Noah picked up the basket and left the room to finish the rest of his chores.

“Noah,” his mother called, “Get in here please.”

“One minute!” Noah called back as he set the laundry basket in his room. He shut the door and walked down the hall to the living room. There on the coach sat his mother and a man. The man was in a dress shirt and slacks. He had brown hair and brown eyes covered by glasses. The man gave Noah a small smile.

 

Brandon sat on a boulder in the middle of the woods. He had been there several hours  and would have stayed there a few hours longer if his cell phone hadn’t rung.“Come home.”  the text from his mother read.

Brandon sighed and put his drawing supplies in the bag he had brought. He then took a deep breathe and concentrated. The change was quick; he barely felt a thing. His only indicators were his eyes no longer seeing over the boulder and he was now on all fours. Brandon shook out his fur and worked his bag onto his back, then took off into the trees.

He was home in a few minutes. He leaped the backyard fence in a single bound. He morphed back into his normal human self.

''Hey mom" Brandon called as he entered through the back door.

"In the living room, hun," his mom called back.

Brandon walked into the living room. Sitting in the recliner next to the couch was a man with short cropped dark hair. He was in black a black shirt and pants. Brandon saw he had a hearing aid.

"Hey kid," the man greeted.

 

Ashleigh sat in the living room of the small duplex her and her mother lived in. The T.V. was on, some stupid cartoon playing for background noise. The book in Ashleigh's hand was losing her interest. She glanced around, making sure she was alone. With no one around, Ashleigh threw the book on the coffee table and grabbed a palm sized, black, rubber bouncy ball.

Ashleigh laid back on the couch, ball in hand. She stared at the ceiling for a moment before tossing the ball in the air. It floated for a second before being enveloped by a bright, shimmering green light. The ball came back to Ashleigh's hand, now only the size of a marble. Ashleigh smiled. She did this for awhile longer, changing the ball's shape, size, and color.

"That's a neat trick," a voice startled Ashleigh while the now baseball sized cube was still in the air. She was barely able to catch it before it hit her square in the nose. She sat up and stared at the man standing at the other end at the coach. He was tall, with light brown hair and blue eyes. He was in a black suit and tie and carried a briefcase. The man wasn't much older than her mother.

"Who the Hell are you and how the Hell did you set into my house?" Ashleigh hissed, taking up a defensive posture.

"I invited him in." Her mother chided as she came around the man. Ashleigh immediately regretted opening her mouth.

“It's alright," the man chuckled, “I would have acted the same way if someone had caught me using magic.” Ashleigh felt the color drain from her face.The man just smiled at her a he move to sit in a chair on the other side of the coffee table. “Oh I know all about magic, Ashleigh. My job has brought me into contact with several magic users.”

“And what job is that?” Ashleigh said eyeing him suspiciously.

“Don’t be rude,” Her mother hissed as she sat next to Ashleigh.

“I don’t mind really,” The man said, still smiling. “My name is Phil Coulson, by the way, and i’m an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“For who?”

“S.H.I.E.L.D,” Phil repeated, “ the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We take care of the random incidents that would be better to not bring to the general public. Or play clean up when all hell breaks lose.”

Ashleigh was still confused and just blinked at him.

Phil sighed and thought for a moment. “Do you remember the invasion that took place in Manhattan?” Ashleigh nodded.

“But didn’t the Avengers stop that?” Her mother asked.

Phil chuckled. "Yes, but S.H.I.E.L.D brought the Avengers together to stop the invasion. We also have been fronting the cleanup and damage control."

"Then why aren't you there helping?'' Her mother kept questioning.

"I've been assigned to a more pressing... issue." Phil stated.

"How am I an issue?"Ashleigh hissed defensively."I am the issue aren't I? Why else you be here."

Phil grimaced a little."Maybe 'Issue' wasn't the best word to use." He chuckled nervously. "I didn't mean it like that. You're not an issue. The issue is that there are many kids like you who aren't as controlled as you are, and I mean you are very controlled.We wouldn't have know you existed if that test hadn't found you."

"Test?" Ashleigh and her mother asked in unison.

"Yes there was a test." Phil stated.''Do you remember in the middle of the last school year the test you took were you had to give a blood sample?"

Ashleigh remembered. She had been crammed in a Lecture hall at the college and forced to take along test that had nothing to do with school. (It had been "Government Mandated" so everyone had to take it.) At the end of the test everyone was made to prick their finger and rub the blood into the designated spot on the cover. It had reminded Ashleigh way too much of the Hunger Games.

"That test was issued by S.H.I.E.L.D. to find kids like you." Phil continued.

Ashleigh was taken aback. “Kids... like me?” she muttered just staring at Phil.

He nodded. “You not the only one special kid out there, Ashleigh.” he muttered.  "The blood you gave was put through a series of test. Those test sorted out all the teens who have special abilities, like you."

“Why would S.H.I.E.L.D. interested in teens with… special abilities” Ashleigh's mother asked?

“We want to help them learn to control their powers,” Phil said. “We have the resources to properly teach them so they don’t hurt themselves or others. We are setting up a school of sorts to do so.”

“What if I don’t want to go?” Ashleigh asked.

“You won’t be forced.” Phil answered. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a manilla envelope. “This is all the information on the school. Read it over and if you decide to join call the number listed.”

Ashleigh’s mother took the envelope. “Thank you Mr. Coulson.” she said giving his hand a shake.

“Phil, please,” He smile shaking her hand. He reached his hand out to Ashleigh. She gave it a sceptically stare before hesitantly shaking it. Phil gave her a gentle smile. He said his goodbyes and left the house.

 


	2. 2

Ashleigh looked at the jet in slight awe. She had never seen something so high tech before.

She had made the decision to go to the school Agent Coulson had told her about. It took some convincing on her mother's part. But after a while Ashleigh gave in and her mother set everything up.

"Remember to call me when you get there," her mom babbled. "And please try to make some friends. Oh and remember to take your meds every morning."

"Mom," Ashleigh whined a bit, "I'm a big girl I'll be fine." She hugged her mother tightly.

"Oh I know," her mother cooed as she hugged back. "My little girl is growing up. I'm gonna miss you Ashy-Boo."

"Mom!" Ashleigh whined. Her mother chuckled.

“Be good, Ashleigh,” Her mother cooed before letting her go.

“I will, mom,” Ashleigh muttered.

An agent in a suit walked up to them. “Ready to board, Miss Eriksson?” the agent asked from behind her.

“I guess,” Ashleigh muttered as she picked up her carryon bag.

“I’ll be sending you the rest of you stuff.” Her mom said as she kissed Ashleigh’s cheek.

“Thanks mom,” Ashleigh replied.

“I love you.”

Ashleigh turned back to her mother. “ I love you too.” She said. her mother gave her a small smile. Ashleigh could see tears threatening to brim over her eyes. Ashleigh swallowed back her own tears as she turned to follow the agent to the plane.

The jet was really nice; it looked like something out of a movie. The interior was quite posh. In truth, it looked like a flying lounge. 

There were already a few people sitting in the posh white seats. Most of them seemed to be uppity rich kids. They all looked down at Ashleigh in her all black outfit and long black leather trench coat. Ashleigh's tongue played with one of her lip rings as she took a seat across from this Emo boy at the back of the plane. 

"Please buckle your seat belts." A voice came over the plane's intercom. "We will be taking off in just a few moments."

Ashleigh settled into her seat and buckled in. She then opened and dug around in her bag and pulled out a Skelanimal bat. She held the stuff animal close and looked out the window. 

Ashleigh heard someone chuckle. She glanced across to the boy. He was watching her with a little smirk. Ashleigh blushed.

 

Brandon hopped off the jet. Several other planes were lined up, all spilling out with kids.

Brandon had decided to come to the school for the experience. He had always had a decent amount of control on his shapeshifting. But he couldn’t pass up the chance to meet and learn from the Avengers.

“Baggage claim is at the back of the jet,” a female agent called. Brandon turned and followed the rest of the passengers to the back. Bags were being passed down and set out. Brandon found his suitcase quickly. 

“Hey give that back!” a voice cried over the clamor of other teen.

“Reach for it, shortstop,” Another voice teased.

Brandon turn to see a tall, jock guy holding a black suitcase with white flowers on it over his head. In front of him was a very short redheaded girl jumping for the suitcase.

“Give it back you douche face!” the girl screamed as she kept jumping. The jock just laughed.

“Hey!” Brandon called as he ran to the two. “Give the girl back her suitcase.”

“What you gonna do about it?” The jock sneered. 

“This!” the girl hissed. Brandon watched as the girl kicked the guys shin. He yelped and almost dropped the suitcase. Brandon to the chance to grab one of the handles and yank the case from the guy. In doing so, he caused the guy to topple to the ground.

“You're gonna pay for that!” the guy groaned from the ground. Brandon responded with a low, threatening growl. The guys face just fell and he crawled away in fear.

"Yikes," the girl muttered beside him. Brandon gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his neck.

"Yea," Brandon murmured.

"Thanks though," the girl smiled. "Can I have my bag now?"

Brandon started a bit with the realization that he still had her suitcase.  "Oh yea, sorry," he muttered as he set the bag on the ground.

"Thanks," the girl said, pulling out the retractable handle on the suitcase. "I'm Michelle Tate, by the way."

"Nice to meet you," Brandon said. "I'm Brandon Dexter."

"Nice to meet ya," Michelle piped, sticking out her hand. Brandon smiled and shook her hand.

"All students report to Hanger 5 for orientation." Someone said into a loud speaker.

"I guess we go to Hanger 5," Michelle stated as she began to follow the crowd. Brandon muttered his agreement and followed the short redhead. 

 

Sarah followed the large crowd  to the oversized steel building.  She stood in the mass of bodies as hundreds of teens packed into the space. She dropped her old duffle bag on the ground when she new the last of the students had been crammed in. 

"Good afternoon, " a deep voice rumbled throughout the building.  Everyone turned to look up at several people standing on a platform high over them. The most notable was a tall black man in all black with an eyepatch.

"I am Nicholas Fury," the black man continued into the microphone in front of him.  "I am the director of S.H.I.E.L.D  and the organizer of this project. On behalf of all S.H.I.E.L.D agents and the faculty, I would like to welcome you all to our school for the gifted. "

The crowd erupted in applause. Sarah clapped politely Fury raised his hands as a signal for everyone to calm down. 

"As it is your first day here, we would like to get you all settled in quickly. To do so we have several agents prepared to show you to your rooms.  They have each been given a list of names and rooms, in alphabetical order.  Once you are settled in you will have the rest of the day free until curfew at 11. Please go find your assigned agent." 

The crowd cheered and dispersed.  "Please, let's do this in an orderly fashion." Fury called in a futile attempt to calm the crowd. 

The hoard of teens didn't listen. They all rushed around, pushing and shoving to get to one of the agents lining the room.  Sarah lugged her bag to her shoulder and began weaving through the crowd.  She found her agent,  a tall pretty blond woman name Jen, after a battle through the chaotic mass of teens.  Sarah gave the woman her name and she checked it off her list. 

Once the "P" group had gate red around Jen, they were led to another building. There they hopped in an elevator. Sarah noted that the panel to call the elevator only had a down button. "Most of the compound is underground," Jen explained when Sarah asked about it.

The compound was huge. Upon exiting the elevator Sarah could see many hallways branching off in every direction. Even more hallways branched off those. How Jen navigated the halls  was beyond Sarah’s comprehension.

Finally, Jen directed Sarah to her room, 787. She smiled as she swiped the key card to open the door. "Your counselor will around in a little while to explain the rules to you." She said cheerily.

"You're not my counselor?" Sarah asked settling her bag on the little bed. 

"No," Jen replied apologetically. "I'm the counselor for the 800 block. But Micca is really cool. You'll like her." With that Jen left to show the remaining teens their rooms.


	3. 3

Noah stared the blank page in the notebook in front of him. He willed his mind to come up with the right words, but none came. 

Noah was sitting alone in the eating area on the second floor. His counselor, Rick, had gone into detail about all the floors in the compound. The first floor was a lounge with all sorts of simulating activities.The second was the food court. Third through fifth were gyms. Sixth through tenth was housing for students and staff. From eleven on was the training facilities.

Noah munched on a bag of chips as he continued to stare at the page. His story just wouldn't come to him. He knew what he was trying to say, the words just weren't combing out right. 

"Um...Excuse me," a soft voice spoke from the the other side of the table. 

Noah looked up to see a cute redheaded girl standing with a tray of food. He just cocked an eyebrow at her, his mouth too full to reply.

"Would you mind if I sat here?" The girl continued.

Noah nodded and motioned for her to sit. The girl smiled and slid into the chair opposite him.

"I'm Sarah," the girl said with a smile.

"Noah," he replied after he swallowed.

"So what are you in for?" Sarah asked as she began to eat.

"Hmm?" Noah mumbled, only halfway paying attention.

"What's your superpower?" Sarah chuckled. "You know, the the special 'talent' that got you into the school?"

"Oh," Noah mumbled "umm.. I'm telekinetic." It felt weird to say that so openly.

"Cool," Sarah smiled, "I can control plants.".

"Nice," Noah mumbled as he eyed her. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but um... why did you decide to  talk to me?"

Sarah blushed a bit. "Just trying try make friends. Sorry if I'm bothering you." She started to get up from her seat.

"No, no, no," Noah said a bit frantically. "You're not bothering me. It's just... Not many people just walk up and start talking to me. I normally deter people because I'm always so caught up in my work." He motioned to the notebook. 

"Oh," Sarah sat back down. "So whatcha working on?" She asked nonchalantly.

Noah smiled. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.”

“I’ve got time,” Sarah smiled back.

 

Michelle laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling of her single, dorm-like room.  There was a little bathroom connected to the room next to the little closet. It was comfortable enough, though she did wish it was a little bigger.

In the closet was her “training gear”, as her counselor, Luke, had put it. Basically, it was a black catsuit. It looked like it would be comfortable, but at the same time too snug in certain places. Luke said she had to wear it to all physical training sessions, including to one first thing in the morning.

Michelle gave and over exaggerated sigh of boredom. If only she had a tv or internet access, but S.H.I.E.L.D, was apparently against the students entertaining themselves.

Again Michelle sighed. She turned over and flicked off the lamp on her night stand.  Might as well sleep.   she resolved and she snuggled under her fuzzy purple blanket.

 

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

The infernal sound woke Ashleigh from a deep sleep. She groaned and hit the snooze. She forced herself out of bed and into the tiny bathroom for a cool shower. The chilly water shocked her into being mostly awake.

Out of the shower she blow dried her long black hair and pulled it into a ponytail. She pushed her fringe out of her face to brush her teeth.  Ashleigh then replaced her five facial piercings and did her makeup. The last thing she did before leaving the bathroom was gulp down the pills for her anxiety and depression.

Back in the main room Ashleigh threw open the closet and pulled out the black catsuit. She grimaced at the tight garment. With a sigh, she pulled it on and zipped it up to her neck. Again she grimaced,  this time at how it hugged her body. She liked wearing tight clothes, but this was a bit much. 

 

Brandon walked from his room to the elevator.  He was a bit self conscious on how the training suit fit him. He almost swore he was given a girls suit.

"Brandon!" A voice called behind him. Brandon turned just in time to catch the little redheaded Michelle as she jumped on him. 

"Hi," Brandon groaned as he tried to regain his balance. 

"Hi," Michelle giggled.

"So your plan was to break my back?" Brandon asked as he set the girl on her feet. 

"Maybe," She sang back. Brandon just rolled his eyes. 

Brandon walked with Michelle to the elevator. They got on with several other students and road up to the third floor. 

The gym was crowded with the large group of kids, all in the black suits. Brandon worked his way to the edge of crowd, Michelle in tow. They stood together waiting for something to happen.

 


	4. 4

"Good Morning!" a deep voice boomed over the chattering crowd. Sarah looked up from her place by Noah to the platform high above everyone's heads.There stood Director Fury. "It's good to see you all up bright and early for your first day of training."

A collective groan passed through the crowd. Sarah saw Noah roll his eyes a little.

"Today you will divided into small squads of six," The director continued.  "Each squad has been has been chosen based on personality compatibility. If need be,  swaps will be made later. But now I need everyone quiet so I can get these names read off quickly."

Sarah looked at Noah. "Wonder who I'll get stuck with." she murmured over the chitter of the crowd

"Same," Noah muttered back.

 

"Squad 13," Director Fury said.

Michelle was zoned out, bored as usual.

''Hey," Brandon said shaking her a bit, "he just called your name."

Michelle perked up. So squad 13 it was. "Who else am I stuck with?"She asked.

"Well, me for starters," He replied,"plus an Ashleigh Eriksson, a Noah Carmen, a Sarah Patterson, and a Xavier Duke."

"Ok,"Michelle muttered,"cool at least I'll know someone." she smiled at Brandon. He gave her this big goofy grin.

 

Ashleigh weaved through the crowd. Director Fury had finished calling out the squads and everyone dispersed to go find their "mentors". Ashleigh was looking for Thor, a big, blond, oaf of a guy. Finding him was easy, getting to him was the hard part.

Finally Ashleigh broke through the crowd to the little area Thor had commandeered.

He smiled at her. The was dressed in his armor and Mjölnir sat on the ground next to him.

"Ashleigh," he greeted, clapping her on the shoulder. Ashleigh had to grarb his wrist in order to stay on her feet.

"Nice to meet you too," Ashleigh muttered as she regained her balance. 

"Come, sit," Thor pushed her a bit too roughly to the small group sitting on the wall. "We are still waiting for Xavier."

Ashleigh smiled timidly as she took a seat on the floor. "Hi," She said softly.

"Hi," a small redheaded girl replied. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Michelle."

"Nice, to meet you," Ashleigh said shaking the girls hand.

"I'm Brandon," a strawberry blond boy said with a wave.

"Noah," a blond boy added.

"And I'm Sarah," another redhead girl said.

 

Brandon smiled at the black haired girl with piercing she looked nervous, even a bit uncomfortable.

"Ah Xavier!" Thor bellowed. The whole group jumped a bit. Finally making his way to them was a tall boy with black and red hair. He also had piercings, like Ashleigh.

Thor thumped him on the back in greetings, like he did to everyone else. Xavier stumbled forward a bit. 

"Good now we are all here," Thor bellowed again. “Rise and let us begin!”

“Begin what, exactly?” Noah as they all stood from the floor.

“I am to evaluate the strength of your abilities.” Thor replied. “Who wishes to be first?” Everyone just kind of looked at each other, clearly intimidated by the god. 

After a moment Brandon raised his hand. “What the Hell, why not?” He muttered stepping forward.

“Marvelous,” The god thundered loudly.

 


	5. 5

Michelle watched as Brandon walked up to Thor. He was almost a foot shorter than the god. 

“I’m a shapeshifter,” Brandon elaborated at Thor’s question of what his power was. “I mostly just shift into animals.”

“Let me see then,” The god commanded. brandon gave a small nod.

Michelle watched as Brandon went rigid where he stood. Then his body quickly morphed into that of a coyote. He looked up at the Thor, wagging his tail. The god raised an eyebrow, as if to say “Is that all?”  Brandon to the hit and morphed again, this time into a monkey. Monkey Brandon whooped and crawled up Thor’s arm. Thor laughed as Brandon perched on his  shoulder. Again Brandon morphed, now into a falcon.  He too off from Thor's shoulder, flying in circles over the group. After a moment her dove from the air, morphing back into himself just a few feet off the ground.  He had this big goofy smile on his face as his feet hit the ground.

 

"Splendid!" Thor laughed as Brandon walked back to the wall. "Next."

Noah walked  forward. "Let's get this over with," he sighed.

"And what can you do?" Thor asked.

"I'm telekinetic," Noah replied. "I can do this." 

Noah turned and concentrated on the other Michelle, redhead of the group. She just raised her eyebrow at him, earning earning a smirk. Suddenly her feet came off the ground.

"Hey!" Michelle yelled as she rose higher and higher. 

Thor's laugh rang off the wall. Other groups near by 

"Put me down!" Michelle yelled down to Noah. He just made a face at her and flipped her upside down.

"I believe that is enough," Thor stated. "Put her down, Noah."

''Gently!" Michelle shouted.

Noah pulled another face, but flipped the smaller girl rightside up and placed her on her feet. Michelle glared at him and gave him a shove. A painful shock shot from her hands through his body. 

 

"OW!" Noah yelped as he jumped back from the small girl.

"Not so fun being a guinea pig, huh?" Michelle hissed as she advanced on the blond boy.

“Hey, hey hey,” Brandon yelled as he grabbed Michelle. He felt electricity buzz up his arms. “Calm down Mich, he was only kidding!” Michelle twisted in his grasp.

Brandon glared at Noah. “Apologize.” He hissed. 

Noah just gave brandon this appalled look. “She should apologize for shocking me!”

“You Telek- whatever-ed me!” Michelle yelled back.

“Stop!” Thor shouted stepping between the fighting pair. He looked at Noah. “You should have asked before using your powers on the little Michelle.” He turned to Michelle. “You should control your anger. Energy manipulation is tricky enough to control when calm. Letting your emotions control you makes it ten times harder.” He glanced between the two. “Both of you apologize.”

Noah sighed. “I’m sorry Michelle.”

Michelle huffed in Brandon’s arms. “I’m sorry Noah,” she grumbled.

“Now back to business.” Thor said. “Ashleigh, why don’t you go next.”

 

Ashleigh felt her anxiety skyrocket. She was already uneasy about having to show off in front of everyone, especially Thor. Then the whole fiasco with Noah and Michelle happen. And now Thor had singled her out.

Ashleigh swallowed the lump forming in her throat and stepped forward. She could feel herself shaking as she moved.

“Worry not,” Thor said gently, carefully placing a hand on her shoulder, “There is no judgment here. You are safe, Ashleigh.” Thor had the most sincere look that Ashleigh had ever seen on his face.

Ashleigh took a deep breath and nodded. Thor gave her a small nod then took a few steps back.

“Now,” Thor said, back to his normal booming voice, “let us see what you can do.”

Ashleigh look another deep breath to steady her nerves. From her pocket she pulled her little black ball. She saw Thor raise and eyebrow, but ignored it. She tossed the ball into the air. There was a flash of green, and a cube fell into her hand. She tossed the cube up and a diamond came back to her. She held her free hand over the diamond and it began to float between her palms.

“I can also teleport short distances,” Ashleigh said softly. She was becoming increasingly aware of the eyes staring at her.

Thor smiled softly. “That i would like to see,” he said, earning a distressed look from Ashley. “At a later time though,” He continued, much to her relief, “Now you may sit.”

Ashleigh took his words to heart and hurried to the wall. She promptly slid down to the floor and brought her knees to her chest.

 

Sarah sat next to Ashleigh. She had curled herself into a ball and was taking deep breaths. Sarah knew the signs of anxiety, having to deal with it herself.

"Hey," Sarah murmured, "you did great. What you can do is pretty cool." Sarah smiled softly as Ashleigh peaked out at her.

"Xavier " Thor called, " your turn."

Sarah watched the tall, skinny, black haired boy snaughter forward. He had this cocky look about him. Sarah had this funny feeling about him.

"Now," Thor said, "Please share with us your abilities. "

"Well," Xavier replied, "I can do this." He snapped his fingers. Sarah gasped as a little flame sparked to life over his thumb. "I can also throw fireballs and a get other fire related things. But I'd rather not accidentally hurt someone." The flame died away.

Thor nodded. "Very well," he stated, dismissing Xavier. "That only leaves Sarah." 

And there went Sarah’s cool.

 

Noah helped Sarah from the floor then took her place. He watch her nervously walk up to the intimidating Thor.

The god smiled at the smaller girl. "Now what abilities do you possess?" He asked her gently.

"I-I-I... um" Sarah stammered out. "I control plants."  Sarah rubbed the back of her neck.

Thor caught on rather quickly. "Ah, yes." He looked around for a moment. "I will return in a moment." With the he picked up Mjölnir and flew off.

Sarah looked back at Noah with a confused expression. Noah just shrugged.

Thor landed back in front on Sarah a few minutes  later. In his arms he held a ficus. He also had a big dopey smile on his face. Sarah just blinked at the tree before breaking out in  laughter.

"Well ok then," Sarah giggled as she calmed down a bit. "Here goes nothing."

Sara held out her hand to the plant. It shivered and trembled a bit. Then from the branches sprouted bright red and yellow confetti roses. Sarah smiled as the roses bloomed. Noah couldn’t help but smile too as he watched.

“THOR!!” A woman screamed. Everyone within earshot cringed and turned to see a woman storming up to the group. She was pretty, with brown hair and blue eyes.

“Thor,” the woman hissed, “Why on earth did you take my ficus?” She stood before Thor with her arm crossed and tapping her foot.

Thor stuttered to find the words to explain.

“Um…” Noah heard Sarah mutter. “He took it so… I could do this.” Sarah pushed the plant forward. Thor just smiled bashfully.

The woman gaped at the plant for a moment. Then she just smiled and hugged Thor. “You big doofus,” She chuckled and gave him a quick kiss. “Now please take that back to my office.”

Thor smiled and nodded. He picked up the plant in on arm and the woman in the other. The woman squealed as he flew off.

“Well that was...” Noah spoke up.

“Adorably weird,” Michelle finished. The group giggled.


	6. 6

Michelle yawned as she meandered into the cafeteria for dinner.

It was coming up on the third week at the "school". Michelle swore it was more like boot camp. She and her new team of friends had spent the last two weeks learning how to work together. Michelle found that she and Ashleigh were quickly becoming Thor's favorites.

While they did workout as a team most of the time, they did split up to work on their own. She just got done working with Thor.

Michelle fell into a chair act her group's usual table, for once feeling drained.

"Hard session?" Noah asked as he slid a tray of food in front of her. She just nodded and ate.

"Hey guys," Xavier said way too cheerily as he sat next to Ashleigh. Everyone just moaned back in response.

"Why are you so happy?" Ashleigh  muttered as she leaned against him.

"Well," Xavier continued, "I just heard about a little... challenge the faculty has set up."

"Oh really?" Noah yawned. "And what challenge is that?"

"Well my friend in the elemental training group who is in the morning espionage class told  me about it." X continued excitedly.  "He said that all you have to do is 'escape' the compound and you win."

"Escape the compound, " Sarah  repeated slowly.  "So we just walk off campus and win?"

"Not exactly--"

"And what do we get if we actually succeed?" Noah interjected before x could finish.

Xavier sighed. “I don’t have all the details. But we can’t just walk off campus. They’re amping up the security to make it harder to leave. I think it’s supposed to be some kind of training exercise.”

“And you just happen to hear about this from a friend?” Brandon asked, leaning on the table.

“Yes,” X said.

“Real or not,” Ashleigh spoke up, “It sounds pretty cool.”

“I’m sure we’ll hear more about it during our session,” Sarah said. “Now can we please just eat?”

After dinner the group went to their last class of the day: “Espionage”  Sure enough, the whole thing was explained by agent Romanoff. Ashleigh listen intently to her explanation. Basically it was a training exercise. They would use it to test the students improvement in escape tactics. If you successfully escaped and avoided “recapture” for several hours, you won. As a prize, those who succeeded would get the privilege to leave the compound at will, unchaperoned.

This was a great incentive to actually try. The students were allowed to leave and go into a nearby town once a week with a chaperone. They could only go that one time and had to constantly check in with the agent that was in charge of them. It was a tedious and time consuming, taking away from their few hour of freedom.

“I’m gonna go for it!” Xavier babled as they left the gym.

“You’ll fail,” Noah said, “none of us are even remotely ready to try and get out of this place.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t try,” X whined.

“You can go have fun getting tackled and zapped by security,” Ashleigh groaned and she stretched her sore muscles. “I’ll be sleeping.”

“Same,” Sarah and Michelle moaned in unison.

They all separated and left to their rooms for the night. Ashleigh flopped down face first onto her bed with a groan. She didn’t even have time to think about changing out of her gear before she was out like a light.

Ashleigh was awoken to a dark room by an annoying buzzing noise. It took her a few moment to realize it was her cell phone going off. She reached over and flicked on the screen. She had ten new messages, all from Xavier.

Ashleigh just rolled her eyes and fell back to sleep.

“Why didn’t anyone try to come save me?” Xavier hissed as he sat at the table for breakfast. His left eye looked like it was it was swelling up.

“Because you're annoying,” Noah murmured, not in the mood for this at this time in the morning. “We told you, you were on your own.”

“But we’re a team!” X moaned.

“Yes,” Michelle yawned, “And the team consented to let you learn from your mistakes.” X just huffed in his seat.

“Dude, Noah said none of us we’re ready,” Brandon moaned, rubbing his neck. “Yea we have powers and stuff, but the guards have been trained on how to handle us. That’s why you got that shiner.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten hurt if someone had come to help me.” Xavier whined, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yes you would have,” Sarah hissed, “and you would have dragged us down with you.”

“Can we just relax for a bit?” Noah groaned, a headache pulsing behind his temples. “My head is splitting and this argument isn’t helping.”

Everyone just nodded and ate in silence. Xavier seemed to have a pout permanently stuck on his face.

Two months. Two months since the challenge was issued. Many students tried, but only a handful succeeded. It became something to brag about, having a member on your team that had actually “escaped”. Hell, people were getting into pissing contest over who had better tactics and skills. It drove Brandon up the wall

Brandon was getting sick and tired of having to listen to all the “Champs” bragging. What  really pissed him off were the ones who put down everyone else for not having made it. It really made him want to literally go ape on some people.

“I have an idea!” Ashleigh called as she ran over to the group.

Everyone was sitting outside, enjoying a saturday off in the wonderful weather. Brandon and the rest of squad 13 had picked a nice spot under a decent sized tree.

“An idea for what?” Noah asked. He was splayed out in the shade, Sarah’s laid out next to him, her head on his shoulder.

“How to actually complete the challenge.” Ashleigh smiled and she plopped on the ground in front of the tree.

“I thought we all just decided to say ‘Fuck it’,” Michelle said from her place leaning back on the tree.

“Yes, I know,” Ashleigh said, getting a bit excited.”But just hear me out. Ok?”

Everyone just kind of shrugged and turned to pay attention.”What’s your idea, Ash?” Brandon asked as he slid a bit closer.

Ashleigh just smiled.


	7. 7

Sarah sighed as she watched the guard pace the fence. She and her team had spent the last two weeks working out the links in Ashleigh's plan. Now it was time to put it into motion.

As the guard walked off, Sarah nonchalantly pulled out her phone.

Houdini is go.

Her nerves had her shaking a bit as she sent the mass text.

From her pocket she pulled a little vial of clear liquid. She swallowed hard at the thought of drinking it. She popped the cork on the vial to her lips.

"Defende me ab oculis omnium et aethera terris. Latuit fieri volo nolo videri. Sic fiat." She whispered the practiced words at the lip of the vial. Then she tipped her head back and swallowed down the liquid. A shiver ran down her spine.

She was so close.  Ashleigh had made it out of the building and to the fence. Now she just had to wait.

Sarah was the first to show up. She had this wavering translucent aura around her; Ashleigh knew she had the same. Ashleigh reached out to Sarah and grabbed her hand. With a short spell  and a load of concentration, Sarah was teleported to the other side of the fence. They smiled at each other.

Ashleigh motioned for Sarah to go hide in the woods, then turned to wait for the others.  Next to show was Brandon, but he thankfully turned into a monkey and climbed over the fence. Then came Xavier and Noah. She teleported them the same as Sarah.

She could feel her energy draining with each teleport. Even worse she could feel the invisibility spell slowly starting to wear off.

Finally, Michelle decided  to make an appearance. She was a bit out of breath and flushed.  Ashleigh grabbed her and began the spell.

A guard came walking up, not ten feet away.

Ashleigh heard the soft swear Michelle had let out, didn't break her concentration. She felt had familiar tingle of teleportation, closing her eyes and holding her breath. Ashleigh reopened her eyes just in time to watch the guard walk right through the spot her and Michelle had been occupying moments before, on the other side of the fence.

Ash and Mich ran up to the group just as the invisibility spell wore off. Brandon felt excitement rise up in his chest. They had done it.

"It actually worked!" Noah cheered, high fiving Ashleigh.

"Told ya so ,''Ash teased.

"Now for part two," X said, "not getting caught."

"My cousin said the car is parked..." Noah pulled out his phone out, "About five or so miles south of here."

"Let's get going then." Michelle cheered as she took off running. a few seconds later she came walking back. "Which way is south?"

The group laughed lightly. Everyone grabbed the bags the bags that Ash had stashed in the tree a few days ago.

"This way, you hyperactive leprechaun," Brandon chuckled as he handed her her bag.

"How the Hell do we lose an entire squad of kids?" Phil nearly shouted as he entered the security room, Thor on his heals.

"I believe they were trying their hand at the escape challenge." And agent clicking through video feeds said. "We've found them just lounging around in open areas of the compound, but then they... just um.... just come see for yourself."

Phil and Thor walked up and watched the screen over the agents shoulder. Six surveillance videos were playing. Each depicted a member of Squad 13 sitting or standing in a crowded room or outside. He watched as the plant manipulator text someone. Seconds later the rest of Squad 13 checked their phones. Then they all put put away the phones and pulled out little long tubes. In a scarily synchronized manner, the six teens held the tubes to their lips for a moment before drinking its contents. A moment passed, nothing happening. Then the air around their heads began to shimmer slightly.  They all started disappearing,  from head to toe, just vanishing into thin air.

"How the Hell..." Phil muttered. "What was that stuff they drank?"

"I would guess some sort of potion,” Thor spoke up. “I do believe young Ashleigh has perfected a new skill."  

"This isn't Hogwarts," Phil hissed.

"Magic is magic," Thor shrugged.

Phil groaned. "We need to find them.  All of you start searching near by towns' surveillance, and try tracking their phones. Thor, I need your help organizing a search party to scour the forest." With that, Phil turned and quickly left. Thor followed behind him, a prideful smirk on his face.

“How did you come up with the invisibility potion anyways?” Michelle asked Ashleigh as they sat on the edge of a fountain in the town center.

As part of the plan, Noah’s cousin had let them borrow his truck. He left it on a dirt road a ways from the school. They all piled into the truck and drove to a couple hours to the little town of Harmon. It was a cute little place, the perfect hideout until they were found or decided to head back.

“My aunt sent me several copies of her old shadow books,” Ash replied. “They’re full of all sorts of spell and potions. I saw the invisibility potion and it just kind of hit me.”

“Shadow book?" X asked through a mouthful of ice cream.

"Hand written spellbooks," Ashleigh explained. "Witches collect spells in these hand written spellbooks throughout their lives. My aunt sent me a few so I would have something to study if I wanted."

"So you're, like, really into wicca and stuff?" X continued to question.

Ashleigh just rolled her eyes. "My family is full of witches. So yeah, I'm into 'wicca and stuff'." She mocked. She gave him a playful shove.

''Just asking, jeez," X muttered.

"So this is your clever hiding place?" A deep voice boomed from behind where the group was sitting. They all turned to see Thor and his girlfriend, Jane, walking to them.

''Hi Thor!" Noah called back obnoxiously with a wave.

“That was quite a stunt you guys pulled.” Jane said when she and Thor reached the group. “Where did you even get the stuff to make an invisibility potion?”

“Two weeks of trips into town was pretty easy.” Ashleigh replied nonchalantly. “Not that hard to make small doses under a desk either.

“Well i for one applaud your achievement,” Thor said “Not that many squads have even try to escape together, let alone succeed in doing so.”

“Well when you do most of the grunt work,” Noah spoke up, “you expect a piece of the reward.”

“Couldn’t really leave them if I tried,” Ash joked.

“You know for an agency full of spies and high-tech gizmos,” Michelle spoke up, “it sure took you a long time to find us.”

“Turning of your cell phone didn’t help us much,” Jane chided. The group just giggled mischievously.

“I think it is time we returned to the school, yes?” Thor asked.

“Fine,” the group collectively groan as they got up and to follow him.

****  
  



	8. 8

For the next few weeks Squad 13 was both revered and hated.They were revered by the other student who saw them as heroes for being the first full squad to actually make it off campus. They were hated by those who thought they were better than everyone and were not to happy to not be center of attention. The later group became a bit of an issue.

Squad 13 was being challenged by other squads. These challenges became increasingly annoying. Some jock tried to challenge Michelle to test of strength.Then he laughed when she had an anxiety attack when he wouldn’t stop pushing her around. A couple of kids tried to fight Noah with nothing but telekinesis. That didn’t end well for anyone involved. The worst though had to be when this self-absorbed ice elemental came after Ashleigh.

It was just another day of training in one of the gyms. Ashleigh was with the other magic users and their instructor, Dr. Strange. He was helping them create clones. What was suppose to be a serious exercise turned into the group just laughing at the horrible things that were meant to be themselves.

Ashleigh was rolling on the floor with laughter at this guy named Mark’s intentional disfiguration of his most recent clone. It was just hideous. Dr. Strange was just sitting back, pleased that they were at least trying cloning, even if they were goofing off.

“Hey Erikson,” someone called over the noise. A shadow fell over Ashleigh on the floor.

Ashleigh looked up to the imposing figure of Monique Jennings. She was the stereotypical, blonde haired, blue eyed bitch.

"Can I help you?" Ashleigh said, trying to control her giggling.

"I don't know," Monique sneered.  "Unless you can just jump off a cliff, I don’t think you can help anyone." Monique's little clique laughed.

Ashleigh sat up and glared at Monique, no longer in a merry mood. "Look, if you don't need anything, just leave me alone." Ashleigh stood and a tried to move closer to Dr . Strange.

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" Monique hissed as she grabbed Ashleigh's arm. Ashleigh tried to pull away, but only succeeded in pissing Monique of even more.

"Girls stop this!" Dr. Strange yelled as he pried the two apart.

"She started it!" Monique yelled back with a sob, pointing at Ashleigh.

"Like hell I did!" Ashleigh growled.

"You're already in trouble for fighting," Dr. Strange  hissed to Monique,  "don't make this any worse for yourself. Ashleigh,  go back to practice." Ashleigh huffed and turned back to her group as the elemental instructor came over.

She felt something cold and hard shatter against her back.

"I'm not done with you!" Monique hissed.

Her anger sored. Ashleigh clenched her fist and spun around. "You wanna go? Fine!" With that she sent a blast of magic energy in Monique's direction.

Monique barely dodged the green and gold blast. She retaliated with another ice projectile, which Ashleigh dodged.

This went on for a long while: blast after blast; dodge after dodge; taunt after taunt. Ashleigh and Monique just kept circling and blasting each other, neither willing to get too close. No one really dared to get in between them. Several instructors and even a few students tried to intervene, but were nearly injured in the process.

"Enough!" someone bellowed over the commotion. That didn't really do much to stop them.

Thor came pushing through the crowd. He stood in between the two girls and glared at them. "This is not how young ladies of any kind act towards one another other!" He growled. He looked at Ashleigh. "I am disappointed that you would continue on with this in the first place."

Ashleigh felt her stomach drop. She looked at Thor apologetically before backing down. Thor just huffed with exasperation. Ashleigh sighed and turned away and started to walk from the fight.

She heard the screams far too late to do anything. Next thing Ashleigh knew she was frozen in place and it was suddenly bone chillingly cold.

 

Sarah shoved past everyone with Xavier in toe to their now frozen teammate.

Ashleigh was frozen in place were she stood. A thick layer of pale translucent ice encased her body. Her eyes peered out through the ice. Sarah saw the panic instantly.

"Unfreeze her right now you godless bitch!" Sarah screeched as she whirled around on Monique. The bitch just smirked.

"It's ok, I've got this," X said as he walked over to Ashleigh.

"Xavier, no," Thor called. “You are not controlled enough to do a job this fragile.”

“She’ll be fine,” X rettored. He held his hand several inches from the ice. Low flame flickered in his palms. The ice melted a bit. As he moved around her body the ice slowly melted in his wake. Though what melted some how froze to her once again.

Sarah caught Monique’s evil smirk.

Sarah growled and lunged at the taller blonde. Thor was barely able to grab her before she did any damage.

“That bitch is refreezing the ice!” Sarah growled as she thrashed in Thor’s arms.

Thor glared at Monique. “Remover her, and call Agent Coulson.” He ordered as he dragged Sarah in the opposite direction.

Monique was escorted out of the gym to await her punishment. Agent Coulson (or Principal Coulson) arrived with several other agents and the nurse. Thor had to drag Xavier out of the way to let the nurse and agents do their job.

Minutes crawled by. The agents were working as fast as they could to melt the ice, but it was still taking a long while. Sarah was holding back sobs of fear for her friend. Xavier had to leave to avoid injuring someone out of rage.

Suddenly, the ice pulsed with green and gold. The agents froze in place, not sure what was happening. The green and gold pulses happened intermittently, faster and faster until there was a cracking sound. More and more cracking came as the ice started to split.

“Stand back!” Coulson shouted waving the crowd of onlookers back.

Moments later the ice exploded. Chucks fell and shattered on the ground. Ashleigh gasped and collapsed to the floor. she was wheezing and choking, eyes frantic.

“She having a panic attack!” sarah screamed as she tried to run to her friend. She was held back as the nurse and several agents surrounded her.

 

Thor looked on from the window looking into the infirmary. Ashley had been given a sedative to calm her down from the raging panic attack. She was now on one of the cots, covered with an electric heating blanket, and hooked up to an oxygen tank. The rest of Squad 13 was sitting by her side.

He saw it. No one else had, but he couldn’t help but notice. Everyone thought the pale blue tint to her skin was from the hypothermia. But Thor saw the slightly raised lines crisscrossing her skin. He had even met  her eyes before she had gone under. He couldn’t get the image of the crimson pools staring back at him.

Thor turned from the window and made his way down the hall. He had to speak with Coulson.


	9. 9

Ashleigh was fine. But no matter how many times she said that no one would truly believe her.

She had been reprimanded on her involvement in the fight with Monique, but not as much as her. Ashleigh had her right to leave campus revoked for two weeks. It wasn't that hard to keep her from sneaking out when she was constantly being monitored by lab technicians. They kept poking and prodding at her, trying to figure out how she how she walked away completely unscaved. Ashleigh just chocked it up to a subconscious burst of magic to save herself.

Ashleigh was completely fine. The lab test found nothing wrong with her. But no one seemed to believe it, at all. There was no possible way anyone could walk away from being encased in ice. But apparently Ashleigh did it.

But still Ashleigh was getting looks from people. The worst was the look Thor would give her during practice. It was always this look of pain hidden behind pride. His eyes were always so sad when he looked at her. She had tried to ask him once, but he had brushed it off.

No one really messed with them after  that. Granted everyone was threatened with severe consequences if any more fights broke out. Things just got back to normal from there.

 

Michelle sat with her team in the waiting room for lab 10. Squad 13 was waiting on their turn to test this new simulator thing.

"So what's the big deal with this thing again?" Xavier asked for the fifth time.

"We've told you," Brandon muttered, "it's suppose to measure our anxiety levels or something."

“Why?” X continued his inquiries.

“I don’t know!” Brandon groaned once again. “now don’t ask again or I’ll shove my foot up your nose.”

Michelle rolled her eyes at the appalled look X gave Brandon. Xavier was turning into this annoying prick.He was cool at first, but recently not so much.

The door to the lab whirred open, and out walked a lab tech in a white coat. He was looking at a clipboard as he boredly said,"Squad 13, follow me."

They all stood and followed the tech into the lab. It was a circular, white room. In the middle of the room was this pod thing that looked like it was straight out of some bad Syfy movie. Michelle looked at the pod and the man standing next to it warily.

"Welcome!" the man said way too cheerily. "I am Dr. Barker. I am the The inventor and administrator of this test."

"What does this test, test exactly?" Xavier asked.The rest of the group rolled their eyes.

“In layman's terms,” Dr. Barker continued, “This simulation will measure your fear and anxiety levels and how easily you can overcome them.”

The group shared a nervous look.

"Umm..." Noah interjected, "you do know that most of this squad has some form of anxiety issue, right?"

"Yes, yes,'' Dr. Barker replied nonchalantly, "I am well informed on each of you. I have calibrated the simulations to fit each of you. You have nothing to worry about, this is perfectly harmless."

Michelle still didn't feel that good about the whole thing.

A door open on the other side of the room. Tony walked in and up to Dr. Barker. "He's right kids, perfectly safe," He said patting the pod. "And i t anything does go wrong, it will be shut off immediately."

"Yes it will," Dr. Barker said. He glanced at his clipboard."Alright, first up is Ms. Tate."

Michelle felt her stomach drop.

 

Brandon gave Michelle one last reassuring smile before the pod closed over her. She was whired into the pod by electrodes attached to her head and body. She smiled back at him, but he could still see her anxiety building.

She took her meds. Brandon repeated to himself again.  She took her meds.

The rest of the group sat on a bench near the control room. Tony sat with them, there to help everyone in and out of the pod and watch for problems.. He had a tablet with all sorts of charts and stuff, to keep track of micelles vitals.  He gave Dr. Barker a thumbs up, signalling to start the simulation.

A few lights flashed on the pod. Michelle seemed to fall into a deep sleep. There were little, constant beeps coming from Tony’s tablet.

Everything seemed to be going just fine. Michelle's face would twist and contort into expressions of fear and pain, but Tony assured that was normal. It was bit hard for Brandon to watch Michelle in the pod. He didn’t like seeing his friend in pain, even if it wasn’t real.

Several minutes into the simulation, the beeping picked up. Tony looked at the tablet for a moment before going to the intercom on the wall by the door. “Hey,” He said into the intercom, “tone it down a bit. Her heart rate is picking up too fast for this level.”

The beeping only got faster.

“Hey!” Tony nearly yelled, pounding on the door. “I said  down , not  up .”

The beeping just got louder and faster.

Brandon felt his own heart rate pick up. He could see the rest of his team were also just as worried.

Tony turned from the door and began typing on the tablet. “Son of a bitch!” He shouted before throwing the tablet down. He once again turned to the door and banged on it. “Open the door, Barker! You changed the override on me, you son of a bitch! She can’t handle this level yet!”

Squad 13 jumped from their seats. Brandon looked into the pod. Michelle had this horrible expression of panic on her face. Tears were even pouring from her eyes.

“She’s having an anxiety attack!” Brandon shouted as he ran to the pod. The rest of the team followed. Tony could be heard shouting swears as he tried to open the door.

“How do we get her out of there?” Ashleigh asked as her eyes frantically scanned the pod.

“Don’t break it!” Tony shouted from the door. “It could malfunction as she might not wake up.”

Michelle’s face contorted into a worse expression.

Again Tony swore and turned from the door. “Stay here!” He ordered as he ran from the lab.

The team stood round the pod. Ashley, Noah, and Xavier were trying to remember the sequence of buttons Tony had pushed to open the pod. Brandon held Sarah as she tried her hardest to not have a break down. Brandon couldn’t keep his eyes off Michelle’s face as it became more and more panicked.

Tony ran back into the lab with Thor on his heels. They both bolted to the control room. Thor smashed Mjolnir into the control panel and the door slid open. Brandon watched through the window as Thor stormed in and Picked Dr. Barker up by the collar of his shirt. The rest of the techs backed away in fright. Tony went to the controls and began flipping switches and pushing buttons.

“Get away from the pod!” Tony shouted into the lab. Everyone backed away. The lid hissed and steamed a bit then whirred open. “Be careful. She is probably not fully awake.” Tony said as he came from the control room.

Brandon let go of Sarah and helped Noah lift Michelle from the pod. She was thrashing and crying, trying to get away from them.

“Mich! Wake up. You’re ok. You’re ok.” Brandon murmured to the smaller girl as he lowered her to the floor.

It took a moment for Michelle to wake up. But when she did, she just sobbed and clung to Brandon. She was taken to the infirmary, the whole team following.

They all refused to do the simulation. Tony refused to let anyone else do either, at least until Dr. Barker was replaced.


	10. 10

“Mail call!” A voice rang through the lounge. Michelle turned from the TV screen to watch several agent walk in with mail carts. Noah paused the movie they were watching. The group stood from their places on the couches and floor to move a bit closer so they could hear if their names were called. Michelle even crawled onto a table for a better view.

It took a few minutes, but everyone returned to their claimed couches with something in their hands. Michelle had a letter from her dad. Noah had on from his mother. Brandon got a new comic book from his brother. Xavier and Sarah got care packages from their folks. Ashleigh got this thin, rectangular box.

“No way!” Ash nearly squealed. as she tore the packaging open. Michelle watched as a letter floated to the floor.

“What is it Ash?” Xavier asked as he munched on a cookie from his mother.

“My birthday present.” Ash replied. She picked up the letter.

“It’s your birthday?” Brandon asked with smile.

“In a few days, yeah,” She replied again, eyes scanning the letter.

“A few days?” Brandon pressed.

“Halloween,” Ash shrugged.

“You were born on Halloween?” Xavier inquire, now paying attention. Ashleigh just nodded. “And you never thought to mention that little neat fact about yourself?” Another shrug.

“How old are you going to be?” Michelle asked.

“Eighteen.” Ash stated bluntly. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“So what in the box?” Sarah asked, pointing to the velvet box in Ashleigh’s lap.

“Just a family heirloom,” Ashleigh answered with a smile.

“And you're mom just decided to send it to you for your birthday?” Noah murmured.

Ashley smiled a bit wider. “It’s something i’ve always liked. She promised it would be mine when i turned eighteen.”

“Well what is it?” Michelle asked a bit too excitedly.

Ashleigh held the box to her chest protectively. “You’ll see on Halloween. Not before. In fact, i’m going to put it my room.” With that she got up and left.

 

They compound was decorated in all sorts of festive stuff. Pumpkins were everywhere; Witches and ghost dangle from the ceiling; cheesy music blared down the halls. 

The Halloween Costume party was all set up. The agents thought it was a fun idea to get the students to cooperate and be decent to each other. The students each had their own reasons.

Squad 13's reason was Ashleigh. They had all but dragged her to the gym. They had told many people, including faculty that it was her birthday. And they had a plan.

 

13 stood in a circle at a far end of the gym. Ashleigh was the only one without an overly excited expression.

"I don't know what you guys are up to," Ashleigh shouted over the music, " but I already don't like it." The rest of the group just smiled.

The six of them had all dressed up for the party. Noah was in a rather good Zorro costume. Sarah was dress in as Luke from the Professor Layton games. Brandon was Batman. Xavier was an excellent Dracula. Michelle was Wednesday Addams. Ashleigh a black cat. Tony had even made her a set of ears and a tail that actually moved.

"Ashleigh!" An all too familiar voice called over the music. Ashleigh barely had enough time to turn around before Thor picked her up in a bear hug.

"Thor!" Ashleigh gasped. "Air!"

Thor set her back on her feet. "Happy  birthday, Ashleigh," Thor said with a chuckle, "and may you be blessed with many more."

"Thanks Thor," Ashleigh replied. She shot a glare over her shoulder to the rest of her team.

"You have a wonderful costume," tor stated as he looked her up and down.  Thor's eyes turned curious as they landed on her necklace.

She was wearing her birthday present from her mother. It was gold, with an emerald pendant. The gold was shaped to look like two snakes twisted around each other. Their tails wrapped around the pendant, and their mouths held the rectangular gem at the corners. The snakes also had little black gems for eyes.

"That is quite an exquisite piece," Thor awed as he delicately inspected the necklace. "Wear did you come across this?"

Ashleigh beamed with pride. "It was my mother's. She got it before I was born. It was always my favorite piece of her jewelry, so she promised I could have it what I turned eighteen."

Thor smiled. "That was kind of her." He looked at the necklace a bit more. "This is very nice. Did your mother tell you anything about its history? Like who made it or where she got it from?"

Ashleigh blushed a little and chuckled nervously. "Um... she doesn't know much about it. It was given to her by my father after... a umm... winter solstice orgy." Ashleigh swore she could just feel her blush creep down her neck.

Thor laughed and ruffled her hair, dislocating her ears. "That is nothing to be ashamed of." He did his best to readjust her ears.

"It's just not something normal people do. Not many people are wiccan, like my family. Even fewer understand how it works."

Thor gave her a gentle smile and a quick kiss on her forehead. "Your heritage is nothing to be ashamed of. I am sure you mother and father would be proud of what their daughter is becoming."

Ashleigh smiled back at him.

"Now," Thor said, returning to his boisterous self, "I do believe your friends have a present for you."

Thor spun Ashleigh around. There stood the rest of her team and several other students and agents. Noah and Brandon held a giant cake been them.

  
Thor smiled as he watched the group cut into the cake for Ashleigh’s mini birthday party. But he couldn’t get his mind off of Ashleigh’s necklace. He swore he had seen something like if before. He just couldn’t think of where.


	11. 11

Xavier was acting... strange. He was irritable, anxious, and just downright rude. Brandon and Noah had both contemplated taking a swing at him several times throughout the last week. Even calm collected Sarah was starting to pissed with him. Even weirder, he was getting along with Monique and her friends. He was getting to be a real pain in the ass.

 

"Ugh!" Ashleigh moaned as she flopped to the ground under their usual tree in the courtyard. She just got done with a rigorous training sessions with Agent Romanoff. As usual, everything thing was sore, even after the four months spent at the school. Most everyone there had the same worn out expression.

“Hey guys,” Brandon said as he plopped down to the ground. He motioned to the guy standing behind him. “This Kaiden. He’s from Squad 7. We’re in the shape shifting class together.”

Kaiden was a punk-ish boy, with dirty blond hair and brown eyes. He had this goofy smile on his face. He couldn’t be much taller than Ashleigh.

“Hi, nice to finally meet all off you.” Kaiden said. A dull “Hey.” was echo through the group.

“Why don’t you take a seat,” Brandon, said. Kaiden warily sat next to him.

“Not to be rude,” Noah muttered with a yawn, “But why did you bring him over?”

Kaiden smiled nervously. “My squad’s kinda fighting right now. We’re all blaming each other for failing that stupid escape challenge.”

“Aahhh, trying to escape the drama,” Michelle piped in from her place in the tree. “Totally understand that.”

Ashley stretched out on the grass in the shade of the tree. “So how badly did you guys fuck up?” she asked.

Another nervous smile form Kaiden. “Well… we were doing good, but then someone caught a guard’s attention. Everything just went downhill from there.” 

Ashleigh murmured her understanding then stretched out even more. She yawned a little, earning a chuckle from Kadien. “What?” she whined, pouting a bit.

Kaiden just chuckled again. “You...um… you kind of look like a cat with you do that.” 

Ashleigh blushed a little. She swung out her arm and landed a solid blow to Kaiden’s thigh. He whined in response as he rubbed the new bruise. But he his smile soon returned.

Suddenly Kaiden jumped. He pulled a cell phone from his pocket. His face fell as he looked at the screen.

“Ugh, sorry guys,” Kaiden said as he stood from the ground, “I’m being summoned for an ‘emergency’ meeting. See you later.” He gave a little wave before running off.

“I don’t like him.”

Everyone turned to glare at Xavier, who had been silent the entire time.

“Well i do,” Ashleigh retorted.

“You want to get in his pants,” X hissed back.

“You’re one to talk!” Ash growled as she sat up. “One of the first things you did when we met was flirt with me.”

“So it’s a crime to think you’re cute?” X growled back.

“No,” Ash hissed, “but that doesn’t mean you get have a right to tell me who i can and can’t flirt with.”

“I just said i didn’t like the guy!”

“You also said you didn’t like Monique Jennings,” Noah interjected. “But i saw you with her yesterday. You were all but shoving you're tongues down each other’s throats.”

“She not as bad as you guys think.” X nearly shouted.

“She nearly killed Ashleigh!” Sarah and Michelle yelled in unison.

“She didn’t mean anything by it,” X shouted back.

“Now you’re defending the bitch? Really?” Noah hissed, throwing his arms in the air. “Obviously you're judgement of character is a little off.”

Xavier stood from the ground with a groan of annoyance. “Obviously it is. I can’t believe my  friends won’t accept that I’m talking with someone i actually find attractive.” He stormed off.

Ashley sighed and fell back to the ground. “Is it too late to swap squad members?”

 

The alarms startled Michelle awake. She jumped from her bed, barely catching herself before she face planted. It took her a moment to realize the room was bathed in red. The warning lights and alarms were giving her a headache.

Michelle leaped up from the floor and ran to her closet. In a flurry of motion she tore or of her pajamas and pulled on her training gear. Then she stumbled out of her room, still trying to get one of her boots on. 

She ran through the halls and up multiple flights of stairs to squad 13's emergency meeting place-- Thor's Room.  On the way she met up with Sarah and Brandon. The three of them skidded to a halt outside of Thor's room. The door slid open to the God just as Ashleigh and Noah slid to a stop.

"What's going on?"Brandon asked Thor frantically.

"I do not know," The thunderer replied looking at the group worriedly. "Where is Xavier?'' The group just shrugged. "We can not do anything until--"

The walls and floor shook, cutting off Thor. Everyone had to cover their heads as debris fell from the ceiling.

"There's no time to worry about X," Noah nearly shouted, "we need to get out of here!"

Thor agreed reluctantly. He quickly lead the group up through one of the many escape hatches. Several stragglers followed them up. They exited the compound behind one of the many aircraft hangers.

Out of nowhere there was the horrible, bone aching sound of metal ripping through metal. Screams could be heard from across the campus. Thor’s face turned hard and cold.

“Stay here,” Thor ordered as he started around the building. “Better yet, run. Get off campus Protect each other. You will be found when it is safe to return.” He took off.

“So…” Brandon said after a moment, “What now?”

“The smart idea,” Nah replied, “would be to do as Thor said and run.”

“But we’re not going to do that are we?” Michelle asked.

“Well I’m not,” Ashley said boldly.

“I’m with you,” Brandon spoke up.

“But…” Lucy Bars, a girl from Squad 2, piped in, “Thor said to run. We’re not ready to face… whatever is out there.”

“Then go,” Ashleigh said. “If you want to run, run. You don’t have to fight. But we,” she motioned to the rest squad 13, “need to find our asshole.” Her team nodded in agreement.

Lucy and the few other random students took off towards the fence. Squad 13 followed Thor’s path around to the courtyard.


End file.
